Edmonton police are investigating the stabbing of a student
on the University of Alberta campus.

“Detectives from the South Division Criminal Investigation
Section continue to investigate an attack on an 18-year-old
male student at the campus,” said Wes Bellmore, a spokesperson
for the Edmonton Police Service.

“Three men were seen on the second floor of the Cameron
Library going from cubicle to cubicle apparently looking for
somebody,” he explained. “Two of the men reportedly
attacked the victim with small clubs, and the third man stabbed
the victim with a long knife.”

The attack took place Tuesday around noon. Afterwards the
victim made his own way to a health clinic at a nearby building
and was then transported by ambulance to the U of A hospital,
he added.

“I think there was a fair amount of excitement when
[the victim] ran across campus,” said Gretchen Hess,
vice-provost for U of A.

“The victim remains in hospital with non life-threatening
injuries. Investigators are currently following up some public
tips that have been received,” Bellmore said.

“The assailants and the victim were known to each other,
we’re pretty sure of that; we think it was students involved,” Hess
said. “If you had a random stabbing, that would frighten
people more.”

“It was rather shocking to hear that anything like this
would happen at a library, especially a campus library with
so many people around,” said Claire Callaghan, director
of the D.B. Weldon Library at Western.

“Hearing about this particular case [has] heightened
my awareness of security at Weldon,” she said. “We
think about security all the time, especially with the number
of people [using Weldon] and with the library now open until
2 a.m..”

Callaghan said she met with campus police last year to discuss
implementing a surveillance camera at the entrance to Weldon.
She said this incident “might be an opportune time to
look at other security measures.”

Elgin Austen, spokesperson for the Campus Community Police
Service at Western, said targeted incidents like the one at
U of A usually involve people who were having problems before.

According to Austen, this sort of incident happens when people
do not come forward for assistance prior to the problem escalating
into violence.

“At Western, we would hope that if a person feels unsafe
they would come forward,” he said, adding there would
be a proactive response from campus police and other authorities
on campus.